Seven Soldiers of Victory Volume 2

If you were expecting to find out who the remaining three soldiers are in Volume 2 of the Seven Soldiers series then you’ll be disappointed. But let your sadness be tempered by what we’re offered instead: more Zatanna and Klarion the Witchboy; and the final two parts of Guardian and Shining Knight. In the case of the latter two, all is not quite wound up as there’s still the grand finale to come in Volume 4, but the characters’ sub-plots are resolved and we see them embark on what will inevitably be the final battle.

The fact that Klarion and Zatanna still have endings left untold feels a tad loose but there’s got to be some compulsion to make us pick up Volume 3, since the promise of more Guardian and Shining Knight is obviously going to have to wait for the last book.

As with the previous volume, the script is tight and the art is solid. As the edges between the stories start to blur and elements start to bleed through from one story to another, there’s more coherence to the series as a whole and we learn a little bit more about the enemy the Seven Soldiers will have to face, and why it’s in their best interests to know little or nothing about one another.

Although some of the drama of the first volume is lost, mostly due to the lack of new characters, the resolution of some of the soldiers’ stories makes it essential to the flow of the series. Only time and the next volumes can tell us if the final conclusion will fill all the gaps and fulfill the promise of the first book.